Retrodrome

Hello Ghouls and Boils,

Tonight we are happy to present another terrorific edition of Retrodome! But before that I have to put in a little plug for myself. I am writing a ten part serial and part one came out on Smashwords today! It is free (or reader sets price *winks). So please, stop by today and check out The End of the World: Part 1 “Undead Men Walking” ! Now on to this month’s Retrodrome – Enjoy, my fiends!

Abstrusely,
Sarah L. Covert

Where The Dead Fear To Tread

Where The Dead Fear To Tread

Written By:  M.R. Gott
Published by: Untreed Reads
Page Count: 196 pages (estimated)
ASIN: B005LRY0LC
Where to buy:
Amazon, Untreed Reads Store, and other fine book retailers

Publisher’s Comments:
A police officer and a serial killer search separately for a missing child while running a malevolent labyrinth populated by creatures they never knew existed.

Former prosecutor William Chandler, disgusted with his past inaction, spills the blood of those who victimize children to correct the ills he sees in the world. A self-admitted serial killer and uncomfortable with his actions, Chandler attends the funerals of those whose lives he has taken in an effort to retain a true understanding of the nature of violence.

The carnage left in his wake is investigated by Detective Kate Broadband, who becomes progressively more comfortable with the corpses left by Chandler. Envying the power she sees in him, she pursues Chandler as each search for Maria Verde, a missing eight-year-old girl.

As Chandler and Broadband draw closer to discovering what happened to Maria they are forced to confront The Devourer, an unnatural being trafficking in stolen children.

Where the Dead Fear to Tread is a tale of hard-boiled macabre, bridging numerous genres to reveal a story of horror, crime and revenge.

Hello Ghouls and Boils,

Tonight our Assistant Editor, Marc Nocerino, is going to talk about this exciting new book – “Where the Dead Fear to Tread”. This review will be followed by some terrorific news! Enjoy, my fiends!

Abstrusely,
Sarah L. Covert

***UPDATE***

After more than a week, I still find myself thinking about these characters, and the story itself, on a daily basis. That is no small feat. And despite what I consider to be some fairly major stylistic and technical issues, I cannot deny that this is one hell of a story.

As such, I am upgrading my original “3 Tentacle” review… keep reading to see how many it got in retrospect!

 

When I first learned that I would be reviewing Where The Dead Fear To Tread by M.R. Gott, I was excited. This book was marketed as a cross-genre noir/horror novel. I heard that it had vampires, ghosts, werewolves, magicians, and even a bit of police action. I thought it would have maybe a little bit of a Dresden Files feel, but darker. That sounded like a lot of fun.

Let me be clear, this book is -not- anything like Butcher’s Dresden Files; in fact it isn’t even what most people would probably consider fun. What it -is-, is frantic, horrific, brutal, and without doubt the darkest thing I have read in years. Maybe in my life. Noir doesn’t even come close to describing it, not even in the most literal translation of noir as Black. This book is darker than black, it is the color of the void at the center of a singularity. Where The Dead Fear To Tread makes the Satanic Bible read like a light Sunday romance in comparison. Parts of this book were so disturbing that it was, at times, difficult for me to believe what I had just read.

I write and review horror, so I’m not only used to grotesquerie, I actually quite enjoy it. Even so, this book pushed boundaries from the first page, and didn’t stop until the last.

M.R. Gott is certainly not afraid to take a new and intriguing look at some old horror staples, like the aforementioned “usual suspects” of the genre. He comes up with some interesting new creatures as well, including a werewolf hybrid and an intelligent worm with necromantic powers. Gott’s main villain, a vampire known only as “The Devourer” is truly chilling; a heartless, inhuman beast with detachable eyes and a penchant for children.

Gott writes action and violence better than most. The action sequences are descriptive  and intense. He truly has a talent for describing the brutal and atrocious.

But despite M.R. Gott’s undeniable creativity, many parts of Where The Dead Fear To Tread read like a technical manual — or a coroner’s report. There is a tremendous emotional distance created by Gott’s almost clinical approach to the atrocities he  writes about. While this detached viewpoint works well for the action sequences, it makes it more difficult to bond with the characters. It doesn’t help that the two main characters are an emotionally closed-off cop and a vigilante serial killer. These kind of complex characters would be hard to bond with under the best of circumstances, and unfortunately Gott’s detached writing style makes it that much harder to do.

The entire book is written in the present tense, which might sound like a way to ensure the reader is kept “in the moment”, but it actually fails in that regard. I found myself feeling more distanced from the events happening primarily because his use of present tense made the reading clunky, especially when going “back in time” for certain scenes but writing them as if they were still taking place in the present. It unfortunately backfired for me, coming across as more of a parlor trick than a legitimate way to immerse the reader into the story.

Gott’s dialog  also come across as a bit flat, with most characters speaking in the same voice (one that I assume is Gott’s). The people and conversations felt more like they were inserted only to further the story or explain Gott’s story and less like people actually talking to one another. I understand that some writers are more interested in the story they are telling than the people in that story; but despite copious back-story and explicated reasons for their actions and combined with the distantly analytical tone of the work, the people in Where The Dead Fear To Tread generally lacked pathos.

However, on the other hand, I’m honestly not sure that I would want to read this story from any closer than a long arm’s length. As I said, the topics covered are grisly and not for the faint of heart. Gott’s action sequences take violence to a new level; heroes and villains alike commit horrific acts in great detail; and the pace never lets up. Never. If it weren’t for that sense of distance from the actions, I honestly may not have been able to finish the book. So, blessing and curse. From an editorial/review standpoint, I was disappointed that the book didn’t pull me in emotionally; but from the perspective of a reader I’m glad that it didn’t.

My last criticism of this book is simply that the title does not fit at all because, in fact, there is nowhere in this story that the Dead (be they vampires, ghosts, animate corpses, or just those who are emotionally dead inside) fear to tread at all.

Final Thoughts:
Where The Dead Fear To Tread is a difficult book to succinctly review. It had some amazingly creative aspects: Gott writes with unrelenting intensity and frenetic pacing, and the violence is utterly disturbing; however the use of all present tense was distracting, the dialog was flat, and the sense of distance between reader and story was too large.

I would recommend this book to anyone who really enjoys an action packed gore-fest and who doesn’t have a weak stomach. I would not recommend this book to the kind of reader who likes to get in close to the characters and feel like a part of the story themselves. 

Overall, I give Where The Dead Fear To Tread 3 out of 5 tentacles.

UPDATE:After much deliberation and reflection, I have decided to upgrade this review by a full tentacle. Despite some disappointing technical aspects of the writing, I simply cannot deny the fact that M.R. Gott told a story that I can’t shake out of my head. As far as I’m concerned, that is easily worth another tentacle.

Marc Nocerino, Assistant Editor (Columnist/Reviewer)

It’s Two for Tuesday and It’s a News Day!

Hello Ghouls and Boils,

Today we have two very juicy pieces of news to share with you! I would not normally put two news stories together; but I couldn’t wait one day to share either tidbit. I won’t keep you waiting either… Enjoy, my fiends!

Abstrusely,
Sarah L. Covert

Tartarus Press is giving us yet another delicious piece of work. Wormwood 18 is published next week, and contains articles on H.P. Lovecraft, William Sharp, Frances Oliver, Robert Aickman, Randolph Stow and F. Marion Crawford. For all the details visit >>this site<<!

We are interviewing one of our favorite authors, Trent Zelazny, yet again! We will discuss about his latest book “Butterfly Potion“, his new play “Not Any Little Girl”, his new audio book version of “Fractal Despondency“, and so much more! Be sure to join us – this will be a phantastic one!

Ghosts

R.B. Russell’s Ghosts

Playlist:
1. Ravissante
2. Ghosts (vocals by Lidwine)
3. Vermiculation
4. Perrier, Mildew, Loganberry
5. Love (It Is There)(vocals and autoharp by Lidwine)
6. She Sleeps (vocals by Lidwine)
7. Llanfihangel
8. Floating Upwards
9. Bleed (lyrics and vocals by Lidwine)
10. Poppyhead
11. Abiding
12. Harrow And Wealdstone
Total Runtime: 53:35
Where to buy:
R.B. Russell’s Website

Hello Ghouls and Boils,
Today I am here to present my thoughts on the haunting sounds of R.B. Russell’s CD “Ghosts”. If the name sounds familiar That is because Mr. Russell is one of the wonderful and creative minds behind Tartarus Press. He’s also a writer, we reviewed his book – Bloody Baudelaire- which won a 2010 Nightmare Award. And if that isn’t enough, he is also a spooktacular photographer! I was very curious about how the disc might sound… but I’ll tell you all about it in a moment. Enjoy, my fiends!

Abstrusely,
Sarah L. Covert

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I popped the CD into my computer, but I was immediately drawn in. Before the first song was over I knew I was going to fall in love with this hauntingly beautiful music.

I was stunned when the second song came on. The vocalist, Lidwine, had me captivated. I told my husband how much I loved her voice. He said she sounded a lot like Bjork when she sung and didn’t do weird stuff. I understand she gets that a lot. After some thought (and a second listen), I am going to have to disagree with the hubby. Her voice reminded me of the old fashioned 30s/40s style singers. Lidwine also contributed by writing the lyrics to one track and playing the autoharp on another. She is obviously a very talented woman.

Ray refers to himself as a composer rather than a musician. He said he uses a mix of sampled instruments (not music) and live recorded instruments and then manipulates them on his computer. The only instrument that didn’t get manipulated on the machine was Lidwine’s autoharp. Whatever he calls himself, this CD is brilliant!

Before I wrap up and give you my final thoughts I wanted to share some video with you. Enjoy, my fiends!

Too see more, visit the site!

Final Thoughts:
This unique and hauntingly beautiful CD is beyond amazing. Ray is a very talented composer and I hope he decides to make more! This is now on my ipod and my computer playlist. As you can tell from my enthusiasm, I really enjoyed it. Ghosts gets a well deserved 5 out of 5 tentacles and a hearty Iä! Iä!

Sarah L. Covert - Creator/Editor/Reviewer/Columnist/Reporter

Through A Monitor, Darkly

Hello Ghouls and Boils,

Tonight we have yet another phantastic column from Marc Nocerino. I have no idea how he finds such interesting webcomics, He has unearthed yet another great one, but I will let him tell you all about it. As always – Enjoy, my fiends!

Abstrusely,
Sarah L. Covert

Hello readers, and welcome to another installment of Through A Monitor, Darkly. This month, I take a new look at an old character in Dracula: The Company Of Monsters, a webcomic created by Kurt Busiek, written by Daryl Gregory, with art by Scott Godlewski and Damian Couceiro. Well, OK, technically it’s a print comic, but the creators did something great by putting all of the Volume One online in webcomic format, releasing only one page a day until the entire 88 page arc was concluded.

Dracula: The Company Of Monsters takes an interesting and critical look at modern corporate greed. Evan Barrington-Cabot is a bright young man working in the family business, owned by his uncle Conrad. Evan’s exact job description is a little mysterious, even to Evan himself. He spends his days translating ancient Romanian texts for what Evan assumes will be a merger or takeover of a foreign company. Eventually Conrad has him researching occult rituals — none of which seems to have any place at Barrington Industries, which is on the surface a non-descript corporation. Amidst round after round of layoffs and location closures, Evan’s job appears to be one of the few that is secure.

It isn’t long before Evan learns the truth of his position, though; when Conrad confides in his nephew that he has found the body of none other than the legendary Vlad Tepes, aka Dracula. All of Evan’s research into the ancient and esoteric texts his uncle gave to him were designed to give them control over one of the bloodiest monsters in all of Western history. But to what end?

Spoilers are not my style, so I won’t say much more about where the story goes from there. Suffice it to say, the rituals work and Dracula is raised from his slumber.

The name of the comic itself is at least a triple entendre, and probably the most clever and apropos title I have seen for a story in a long time. I tip my hat to whoever came up with it.
The artwork is dark and moody, but with a very “traditional comic book” feel to it. Even the lettering fits the overall mood of the comic’s theme. If I had to sum it all up in one word, that word would be “Professional”. Great story, great art, great character arcs, great lettering. Dracula: The Company Of Monsters hits all the marks.

Final Thoughts:
Dracula: The Company Of Monsters is a fun, dark, violent, and witty comic. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and my only complaint would be that I wish it were longer. I give it a blood-soaked 5 out of 5 tentacles.

Phantasmagorium is Changing the Guard

Hello Ghouls and Boils,

Today we bring you some tentacular news. Phantasmagorium is having a big makeover. But I will let them tell you all about it. Enjoy, my fiends!

Abstrusely,
Sarah L. Covert

From Scott Nicolay, Production Mgr –

Recently Laird Barron announced that he was leaving the chief editorial post at Phantasmagorium to focus on his own writing. We were all sorry to hear this, but I ask you, can anything that means MORE of Laird’s writing out there in the world be a bad thing? And it is not the end: I am very happy to announce that Phantasmagorium will continue with some changes to its leadership team. Most importantly, celebrated author & editor Joseph S. Pulver Sr. takes over immediately as Fiction Editor for the print edition. Edward Morris, another dark talent in the world of weird horror, has already stepped in as editor for the new online fiction section, and has begun taking submissions for the “Story of the Week.” I will also be joining as Manager, working to improve all aspects of the magazine.

We know the initial rollout of Phantasmagorium had its speedbumps, especially in distribution, filling of orders and communication with authors.

What we want our once and future readers and contributors to know is that we are now working aggressively to correct all these issues. Therefore, if you have not received the copy(ies) you ordered, or have had any other difficulty, I am asking that you immediately contact me, Scott Nicolay, via my email address: methysticin AT hotmail DOT ETC. Give me the details and I will get on the case.

Most of all, we want everyone to know it is our goal to continue the terrible and exciting vision with which Laird Barron began Phantasmagorium. And we know we can do it. Stick with us. There are many thrills and chills yet to come.

Bad Planet

Bad Planet

Written By:  Tom Jane and Steve Niles
Published by: Raw Studios
ASIN: B004S2XUPI
Where to buy:
Amazon, Raw Studios Store, and other fine book retailers

Publisher’s Comments:
Throughout the Cosmos, there is a term, a combination of two simple words, spoken in over 40 million dialects which bring fear to countless living species. It is a phrase of warning, of dread, of imminent and ancient destruction. Entire civilizations have fallen under the label and disappeared from existence like a wisp of smoke on the solar wind. Now Earth itself has been designated by these two deadly words and we can only pray for a quick and painless end to everything we have ever known. Welcome to Earth . . . The next BAD PLANET. 3D section in Super-Terror 3D! Glasses included.

Hello readers,

Today I am proud to present minion Heather Royston’s review of the comic book Bad Planet written by Thomas Jane (yes, that Thomas Jane) and Steve Niles with artwork by one of my all-time favorites, Tim Bradstreet.

I hadn’t heard of this before (apparently I live under a rock) but now that I’ve read Heather’s review I know that I need to pick up a copy — because this just sounds way too fun.

Without any further ado, take it away, Heather!

-Marc

So a few years ago when I heard that Steve Niles, Tom Jane, and Tim Bradstreet were starting a new company and putting out comics together, I thought it was too much awesome to exist. Then I got Bad Planet and I was proven wrong. So very, very wrong. Bad Planet is everything about the horror and Sci-Fi genres that I missed out on growing up. Reading the single issues, I imagined that what I was experiencing was what it would be like to see the old drive-in movies. It was exactly the right mix of action, gore, schlock, and drama. I laughed, I cried, I threw up in my mouth a little. There was even a 3D issue! It was perfect. Then it was over, here and gone again in the blink of an eye. Until the day I received a package from the Editor Overlords containing a copy of the oversized trade paperback…

Bad Planet is a story that definitely holds up to multiple reads. The ride just gets more and more fun every time. The story is about a meteor that crashes on Earth and turns out to be a containment vessel for the worst kinds of critters in the galaxy. They overrun the planet in no time; and there is no shortage of carnage. As a matter of fact, the Earth is overtaken so quickly that the rest of the universe labels us a “Bad Planet” and we are written off as beyond hope.

Except by one.

A prisoner in a maximum security galactic prison hears a transmission about the incident and promptly stages a jailbreak and heads straight for Earth. There he meets our main human characters — two scientists and a small boy from an African village with a talent for technology. Together they stage a resistance and come up with a plan to save the planet and all that reside upon it. The inventions of Nikola Tesla play a huge role in this, and I love seeing him pop up in places so this tickled me to no end. I won’t go into what happens, but suffice it to say that it is spectacular and that it left me satisfied but with a longing for more.

The artwork is even better in this oversized edition; the details really shine in the larger pages. The 3D section appears to have been slightly redone, and as a person who has a hard time focusing on 3D images (I have really bad eyes) I found it much easier to see the action this time around, and boy was it worth it!

There is a huge “Art of Bad Planet” section containing concept art, rough sketches, pencils-to-finished examples of covers, and fan art. There are even pictures of a balsa wood glider that was used as a Raw Studios promotional item (I’d give my right eye for one of those!). This was probably my favorite section as there are some amazing artists involved with this book, and getting to see their work in all its stages was just too cool. The best part was the last few pages which were part of a Bad Planet script from Tom Jane and Steve Niles (some of the descriptors used were flat out hysterical, especially when it came to the creatures) and an interview with Tom Jane, James Daly, and Tim Bradstreet about the book. I loved having that little bit of insight about the process of creating something this crazy and amazing.

I also was lucky enough to receive a special edition Bad Planet: Apocrypha issue. This will be the first issue in a second series (which I hear is currently in production!) taking place in the aftermath of the first series. It flowed very well from the end of the last issue and I’m tearing my hair out from anticipation to see what happens next.

Final Thoughts:
Bad Planet is a book that no one should miss out on. It takes all the right ingredients from the genres, mixes them in a bowl of laughter, adds a dash of classic drive in, and bakes them in to a delicious funny book pie. I give Bad Planet 5 out of 5 tentacles and recommend that everyone pass their plate forward for a slice.

Heather Royston, Minion/Reviewer

Friday the 13th Tweet-a-thon and Live AudioCast

***Click on image to join our tweet-a-thon — use the hastag #SNSF132

***Click on image to join our tweet-a-thon — use the hastag #SNSF132

Call-in number is: (323) 784-9708
We will be accepting calls for the duration of the AudioCast!

Digging Through the Bins

2012 Inkwell Awards Tour, Ms. Inkwell, And Voting Details!

Hello Ghouls and Boils,

Today I have some exciting news to share with my fellow comic geeks. Now that Con season is upon us much geekery shall be spread and many geeks shall rejoice. As regular readers know, I am on the committee of the Inkwells. Inking is a fine craft and (sadly) the underdog of the comic book industry. Bob is here to tell you all about our convention schedule, this year’s voting period for the Inkwell Awards and more! I will leave things to him. Enjoy, my fiends!

Abstrusely,

Sarah L. Covert

The Inkwell Awards wants to announce that the fifth season is in full swing this spring after a strong opening. “The Joe Sinnott Inking Challenge event went exceptionally well and the book collection of our first Challenge has sold more copies than I can keep up with, especially the Joe Sinnott signed and numbered editions!” says Inkwell Awards director Bob Almond. “Thanks to our loyal supporters, our ongoing fundraising auctions on eBay enabled us to fully fund our annual Dave Simons Inkwell Memorial Scholarship Fund for the JoeKubert School of Cartooning & Design.” The only noticeable difference between 2012 and 2011 will be the number of convention stops on our Inkwell tour. “Last year consisted of a heavy show schedule,” continues Bob, “but this year my dad was sick for several months and passed away in February with my mom moving in with me, leaving me barely able to keep up with operations and assignments let alone convention hopping. But thankfully my team has been all I could hope for in their dedication and execution of duties in a timely fashion. They inspired me when things were really rough.”

The non-profit organization have made two stops familiar in their annual travels and this year is no exception.

Bob continues, “Next week we will be revisiting our ‘family’ and attending Pittsburgh Comicon on April 20-22. Wehave a new Ms. Inkwell model to portray our popular spokesmodel, Melissa Dloughy Bender, a local resident who’s been a cosplay staple at this show for some time now.

We’ll also have Creator Editions of our Joe Sinnott Inking Challenge book, signed & numbered to only five with autographs from Joe himself, intro writer and Hall of Fame award-winning inker Terry Austin, and book producers Daniel Best, Jim Tournas, and myself.”

The other stop will be at the Inkwell Awards ‘homebase’ of Charlotte, NC for Heroes Con on June 22-24 where they present their annual live ceremony. “Most of our organization, past and present, will be attending the event and our new down south Ms. Inkwell model will be played by Ciara Michelle, a longtime convention assistant of our model liaison contributor (and exceptional artist) Louis Small, Jr.” says Bob.

“She’s also a local resident and we had that development in the works for some time but we simply had to wait until the time was right for her to step up. We will also debut the annual Inkwell Awards Donation Drive book that weekend with a awesome cover by superstar artist Mike McKone, one of our ambassadors.”

Now that the Nomination Committee ballots have been tallied, voting this year will take place May 1- May 15 when the official public ballot will be accessible traditionally on the Inkwell Awards website homepage. The voting is open to all public participants, whether they be fans or fellow creators and peers. The award winners will be brought to the Heroes Con and announced at the Inkwell Awards ceremony. Bob closes with “We’ll have more Heroes/ceremony details as we get closer to June but we’re already so excited for this event where everyone’s hard work will pay off and the best of the best ink artists and their work will be recognized”.

The Inkwell Awards is an official 501(c)3 non-profit organization whose mission is to promote and educate about the art form of comic book inking and to annually recognize and award the best ink artists and their work. Now in their fifth year, the organization is overseen by a number of industry professionals such as founder & director Bob Almond, Jimmy Tournas, Michael W. Kellar, Stacey Aragon and Sarah L. Covert who make up the IA core committee and Adam Hughes, Mike Marts, Ethan Van Sciver, Mark Brooks, Sal Velluto, Mike McKone, Trevor Von Eeden, J. David Spurlock, Cully Hamner, Phil Jimenez, Eric Basaldua, Joe Kubert and Jim Shooter who make up their IA ambassadors, and numerous contributors such as Dan Panosian, Louis Small, Jr. and Randy Green among others. They sponsor the Dave Simons Inkwell Memorial Scholarship Fund for the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon & Graphic Art and host the Joe Sinnott Hall of Fame Award.